Limits of authority

The Sun

"... every official, from the Prime Minister down to a constable or a collector of taxes, is under the same responsibility for every act done without legal justification as any other citizen. The [Law] Reports abound with cases in which officials have been brought before the courts, and made, in their personal capacity, liable to punishment, or to the payment of damages, for acts done in their official character but in excess of their lawful authority. [Appointed government officials and politicians, alike] ... and all subordinates, though carrying out the commands of their official superiors, are as responsible for any act which the law does not authorise as is any private and unofficial person.

– Law of the Constitution (London: MacMillan, 9th ed., 1950).

These prophetic words I chanced upon while surfing the Net on "rule of law" over the weekend did not allow concentration on the Liverpool-Newcastle match or the Arsenal-Wigan game. The key words – "the same responsibility", "excess of their lawful authority" and "liable to punishment" – kept repeating themselves in my mind.

Shouldn’t the members of the Selangor Executive Council be brought before the courts, and made, in their personal capacity, liable to punishment, or to the payment of damages, for acts done in their official character but in excess of their lawful authority? Why not? By alienating land meant for low-cost housing to a sitting councillor’s wife at a fraction of the market price, they must have acted in "excess of their lawful authority." But then, alienation of land has always been done in secrecy. The consolation they can take is that little is known about the limits of their authority and hence, it will be a difficult case for the rakyat to prove!

Shouldn’t the officials of the Youth and Sports Ministry be brought before the courts, and made, in their personal capacity, liable to punishment, or to the payment of damages, for acts done in their official character but in excess of their lawful authority? The ministry used taxpayers’ money to the tune of RM17 million to stage an international junior inter-club tournament, which ended in a flop. The question is: Did the ministry act in excess of lawful authority? By all standards and norms, tournaments are organised by sports bodies and associations. It had no business to go into sports business. Period.

Shouldn’t the enforcement officers from the Klang Municipal Council be brought before the courts, and made, in their personal capacity, liable to punishment, or to the payment of damages, for acts done in their official character but in excess of their lawful authority? After all, they dragged an innocent tailor from his shop, bundled him into a car and took him away – all because his brother had an altercation with the officers. In the eyes of the law, it would be abduction, trespass to person and wrongful confinement. Shouldn’t they be held personally liable for unlawful use of force, let alone acting in excess of their lawful authority?

Shouldn’t the president and officials of the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council be brought before the courts, and made, in their personal capacity, liable to punishment, or to the payment of damages, for acts done in their official character but in excess of their lawful authority? How could they have not acted in excess of their lawful authority when they allowed an unlicensed beer garden to operate on a school’s land reserve? Did they ignore the fact that its proximity to a school is an important factor before licences are issued for a beer garden?

Shouldn’t the past presidents and officials of the Petaling Jaya City Council be brought before the courts, and made, in their personal capacity, liable to punishment, or to the payment of damages, for acts done in their official character but in excess of their lawful authority? Did they act in lawful authority when they decreed that all applications for outdoor billboard licences should go through the sports club? They definitely broke the law by accepting "donations" in lieu of licence fees from advertisers! Besides, proceeds from the sales of its own publications were channelled to the sports club. If there’s an open-and-shut case of excess of their lawful authority, this is it!

Shouldn’t the presidents and officials of the Subang Jaya Municipal Council be brought before the courts, and made, in their personal capacity, liable to punishment, or to the payment of damages, for acts done in their official character but in excess of their lawful authority?

They made a ruling that the businesses in municipality should use the services of a consortium for pest control services. Since when did the council have powers to decide on such services which do not come under its purview? To add insult to injury, some of the companies in the consortium had not been registered with the Pesticides Board, which is a legal requirement. Did they act in excess of their lawful authority?

So, if only the rule of law is followed, there’ll be quite a number of councillors, politicians and government officials behind bars, but this theory will remain a fallacy for as long as the powers-that-be lack the will and determination to put it into practice.